7th Circuit Court of Appeals

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has found nothing wrong with the convictions or sentence of two former Indianapolis narcotics
detectives brought down by their involvement in an illegal drug scheme to supplement their income as police officers.

Although sympathetic to a couple whose child was temporarily removed from the family’s home on child abuse concerns
– a removal that was subsequently found not to be supported by probable cause – the 7th Circuit Court of
Appeals affirmed summary judgment for Department of Child Services employees on qualified immunity grounds.

A plaintiff attempting to sue his employer for breach of contract should have been able to file an amended complaint with
relation back to the date of the original complaint in order to correct the defendant even though the statute of limitations
had expired, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded today.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether several Indiana school corporations discriminate against girls’
basketball teams by scheduling more of their games on weeknights as compared to the boys’ basketball games.

A case involving the issue of a prosecutor’s use of a peremptory strike against an African-American member of the jury
pool has appeared before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals for the third time. This time, the judges vacated the two defendants’
murder and robbery convictions and ordered a new trial.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a defendant’s argument that the District Court violated the cross-appeal rule
when it based his new sentence on remand on evidence that wasn’t relied upon at his first sentencing hearing.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a man’s petition for writ of mandamus to remove a federal judge from a case
he is involved with that’s still pending in District Court. The man failed to intervene in the case and his interest
in the case is too uncertain to give him the rights of a party automatically, the judges ruled Friday.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals addressed an issue involving crack cocaine sentencing Tuesday – whether a defendant
sentenced under the career offender guideline, but with a downward departure for substantial assistance, is eligible for a
sentence reduction under 18 U.S.C. Section 3582(c)(2).

The Supreme Court of the United States denied one prisoner lawsuit from Indiana today, while not saying whether it will address
another case from this state on judicial speech. No decision was made on a third Hoosier case it heard arguments on more than
a month ago addressing vehicular flight.

The Indiana Court of Appeals ruled against a man who argued the enhancement of his burglary conviction to a Class B felony
because he burgled a church violated the federal and state constitutions. In the first impression issue, the judges held the
enhancement doesn’t violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment or Article 1, Section 4 of the Indiana Constitution.

The Supreme Court of the United States could soon decide if it will take on cases that question Indiana’s judicial canons
and whether those types of rules infringe on the free speech rights of seated jurists or those vying for the bench.

More than two decades ago, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said that a higher precedent allowed not only residents of a home
being searched to be detained, but also that visitors to that location could be detained.

An Indiana University Maurer School of Law professor who taught at the law school for more than 40 years died Wednesday.
The law school announced Patrick L. Baude, the Ralph F. Fuchs Professor Emeritus of Law and Public Service at Indiana University
Maurer School of Law died in his Bloomington home after a brief illness.

A District Court erred in granting summary judgment for the government on an inmate’s suit claiming his complications
from a surgery were the result of the prison medical staff disregarding instructions he stop taking blood thinners prior to
his surgery.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a Northern Indiana District Court to reconsider a German company’s discovery
demands made in relation to a lawsuit pending in Germany over the alleged theft of trade secrets.

The nation’s highest court has refused to take two Indiana cases, including the high-profile abuse and neglect case
of 3-year-old TaJanay Bailey that revealed fatal flaws in the state’s child welfare system.

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office has filed a brief with the nation’s highest court, urging the justices to
not hear a case about whether Indiana’s judicial canons constitutionally infringe on the free speech rights of those
on or vying for seats on the bench.

The full 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has decided to not rehear an Indiana case about a convicted murder’s ineffective
assistance of trial counsel claims relating to a stun belt used in court, though three judges disagreed and felt the northern
Indiana federal judge’s decision should be upheld.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled on an issue that hasn’t been addressed by any of its counterparts nationwide,
finding that sentencing guidelines revised three years ago still only give District judges one chance to modify penalties
based on a federal criminal rule of procedure.